Whenever you leave me to greet my Mother, I will reward you

Gertrude used to bring to her Beloved anything that seemed beautiful and pleasant.

Therefore, when she heard words that excited her affection in a reading or a hymn in honor of the blessed Virgin and the other saints, it was towards the King of kings, her Lord, rather than to the saints of whom the memory was made, that she directed the movements of her heart.

It happened on the solemnity of the Annunciation that the preacher exalted the Queen of Heaven and made no mention of the incarnation of the Word, which is the work of our salvation. She felt sad, and, passing after the sermon in front of the altar of the Mother of God, she did not feel, in greeting her, the same soft and deep tenderness, but on the contrary, her love took her more strongly to Jesus, the blessed fruit of the Virgin's womb. But Jesus said to her:

“Fear nothing, O my beloved, for it is very pleasing to the Mother, that in singing her praises and her glory, you direct your attention to me. However, since your conscience is reproaching you, take care, when you pass in front of the altar, to devoutly greet the image of my immaculate Mother and not to greet my image.”

"O my Lord and only good," cried she, "my soul can never consent to abandon the one who is my salvation and life, to direct her affections and her respect elsewhere.”

The Lord said to her with tenderness, “O my beloved, follow my advice; and every time you seem to leave me to greet my Mother, I will reward you as if you had performed an act of that high perfection by which a faithful heart does not hesitate to abandon me, who am the hundredfold of hundredfolds, to glorify me more.”

In Gertrude d'Helfta: The Herald of Divine Love, vol. 1